Human hair was already being sold long before capitalism; the sale of human milk was common in ancient Rome and this was even a source of income for many women during the Industrial Revolution. But the first example was not an exchange of commodities in the modern sense, nor in the latter was there any recognition of women as true self-owners. The sale of blood, permitted during most of the twentieth century, was perhaps one of the first generalized ways in which self-ownership left the abstract “straitjacket” of labour power and extended to a physical element of the body, albeit renewable, thus allowing for an additional or last resort income for the most vulnerable self-owners.

In this 2nd call we announce both topics together – BODY: IMAGES AND GEOGRAPHIES – by the inherent articulation between body, representations and space, which are not separate forms nor constitute an organically organized ecosystem. They build up each other correlatively. Thus, space is not present as mere neutral recipient of physical action and experience, it is first likely to influence and transform the body, simultaneously generating new representations. We witness a (more or less active) constant negotiation between body, representations and space.

These lives can be affected without being subject to a "duel", because precariousness is necessary for the protection of other individuals’ lifestyle or life. So we cannot think about the body without considering the conditions that make it vulnerable to precariousness, which are issues relating to gender, origin, sexual orientation, sexuality, class, race, cultural difference, disease, disability, complexion, or age. In this sense, we aim to insist less on identity politics or claims (and their misleading subversion), and more on precariousness and its distribution of difference and exploitation in the maps of contemporary power.